1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to locking mechanisms for truck bed closures, or more specifically to manual and/or electrically actuated locking mechanisms for truck bed caps or tonneau covers.
2. Related Art
Trucks, e.g. conventional pickup trucks, typically have a cargo bed bounded by a bottom wall and one or more sidewalls and an open portion through which cargo is received. It is common, to protect such cargo against weather, theft, etc., to selectively close such open portion with an openable closure, such as a cap or tonneau cover. Such truck caps and tonneau covers are known to have a locking mechanism that, unlike conventional passenger vehicle doors, are typically simple mechanical devices securing the cover or lift gate by using a pivoting handle actuating a rod or cable to release a latch. The pivoting handle typically has an internal lock tumbler that allows the handle to pivot when placed in the appropriate orientation.
An improvement to this arrangement was presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,650, having common inventorship with the instant disclosure, wherein an electric actuator was arranged at the latch, whereby the latch anchor points were displaced from the latch in order to release the latch without the need to pivot the handle. The pivoting handle would remain locked, necessitating continued access to the remote actuator, or access to the key in order to open the cover multiple times.
It would be advantageous to provide a remote locking and unlocking arrangement that, once actuated, would provide continued ability to open and close the truck cap or tonneau cover without repeated access to the remote actuator.